There is one word for our 2013 Annual Meeting - Wow! We just knew it was going to be good when we had to switch locations to a bigger facility - what a great "problem" to have! With over 100 people attending, dynamic and eloquent speakers, and the privilege of awarding the adult and youth Volunteer of the Year, it was a recipe for success and we felt blessed.
We are so pleased to announce that Sheridan Hadley, Mike Mitchell and Tom Utley were nominated and accepted as new MCCF Board members - welcome! Chris White, Morris Mills and Phil Littell are all retiring from the MCCF Board and we wish them a fond farewell and we deeply appreciate all their hours of service. Joe Ellis, Montgomery County Veterans Service Officer, spoke passionately about the Honor Flight and we were privileged to have three veterans join us. Karen Branch, Executive Director of the Youth Service Bureau, truly humbled us by her kind words about the impact that MCCF grants have had, and continue to have, on their programs to help our local youth.
After awarding the Volunteer of the Year awards (see separate article), Jean Blackwell, former CEO of Cummins Foundation, spoke about community engagement. Jean is a Crawfordsville native and she spoke about the fond memories she has growing up here. As an international grantmaker, Jean has firsthand knowledge and experience of what it takes to find solutions to problems in the community and how to foster sustainability. Surprisingly, she said to not start with the money - begin with the building blocks of good leadership and engage everyone in the process. She stated, "My view on engagement is that everybody has to have some skin in the game; otherswise it's not sustainable." We appreciated her insights and are grateful that she was able to share with us at our annual meeting. Thanks to all who were able to join us for a memorable meeting!